At two venues a few miles from each other, the Chargers seemed to take small steps Thursday toward winning back their fan base.

We’ll see.

There's a championship-shaped hole in this county's heart, and only a trophy from Tiffany’s will salvage some relationships.

But, oh, the wonders of some free booze and schmooze, combined with the most hopeful day on the NFL calendar.

“This team is on the rise,” said Marcos Martinez, a Chargers season-ticket holder since 1985. “They’re stacking the deck.”

Truth is, we don’t know if Melvin Ingram is A.J. Smith’s next Shawne Merriman (awesome for three years until he got hurt) or his next Larry English (disappointing for three years because he has been hurt).

But the folks eating and drinking on the Chargers’ dime Thursday night at Qualcomm Stadium wanted to believe ESPN’s talking hair, Mel Kiper, who called Ingram “the best value pick of the draft.”

For now, the acquisition of a pass rusher was seen as a job well done by many of those who show their devotion to the Chargers in the form of expensive season tickets.

“I love it,” said Will Floyd of San Diego. “I think he’ll be ready to go from Day 1.”

Floyd was among those who cheered as Ingram’s name appeared on the giant video screens at either end of the stadium.

While just one exit up I-15, the Chargers personnel department was stunned by its fortune that Ingram was available, the folks hooting and hollering were enjoying the Qualcomm function that was part of a pretty extensive effort by the Chargers to win back their fans’ affection.

The selection of Ingram appeared to help as well.

“Solid guy,” Fred Edgecomb said shortly after the Chargers made Ingram, a defensive end cum outside linebacker from South Carolina, their first-round pick. “Can’t go wrong. I hope.”

A good number of the thousand or so premium season ticket holders attending the party expressed early in the evening a desire for the Chargers to trade up and grab Alabama safety Mark Barron, a wish that died when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took him at No. 7.

The party went on, a few Chargers players mingled, and the fans assembled were largely positive throughout.

This was, of course, the faithful. These people shell out upwards of a couple thousand bucks per seat each year. Many of them have had their seats for 10, 15, 25 years. They qualified for an invite Thursday because they’d already re-upped for 2012.

And the draft is football's eternal spring of hope. This is the "there's always next year" time of year.

“Somehow,” Floyd said, “the NFL has convinced me that standing around on this field on a Thursday night watching the draft is a cool thing to do -- so I can get excited about the pick, and then maybe I’ll be mad at him next year.”

That, of course, depends on production -- by Ingram, by the entire team.

A.G. Spanos, the Chargers’ chief executive officer, knows that.

“Winning is the best sales tool,” Spanos acknowledged in a recent conversation.

But Spanos is also intent on combating the loss of games that has translated in a loss of season tickets.

“We’re trying to be more friendly,” he said. “We’re trying to reach out to people. We want our season ticket holders to know they’re appreciated.”

Thursday’s event, along with Chargers Park tours, trips to road games and the Super Bowl, conference calls with Philip Rivers and others are nice. (Real nice, young Spanos. Seems like you learned from your mom.)

The Chargers should be applauded. And they had to do something to stem the bleeding support as the on-field product stopped selling itself. A team that has won just one more game than it has lost (17-16) since the end of a 13-3 2009 season needs to try to make friends and influence people some way.

It was a small sampling of folks prone to love their team, who have been made to feel they’re a part of the in crowd. But they overwhelmingly approved of an offseason that had previously seen the team add an unprecedented number of veteran free agents.

“This year, they’ve showed us they care about us,” Brian Sanderson of La Jolla said, citing the free agency moves more than anything. “I appreciate that a lot.”